Roller sealing means for sealing containers with closure caps

ABSTRACT

An improved sealing head is described for use on machines which seal containers by placing a metal closure cap over the container mouth and by then rolling portions of the cap skirt into engagement with the container rim. The improved sealing head utilizes a pair of rollers which are movably mounted on the sealing head so that downward movement of the head automatically swings the two rollers into operating position against the cap skirt forcing the skirt into engagement with the container. This improved roller mounting means is particularly useful with high speed multi-head sealing machines as the roller structure and its operating means is relatively simple and compact so that it occupies a small space permitting the sealing heads using the rollers to be closely spaced to each other.

United States Patent Roberts m1 3,775,944 Dec. 4], 1973 4] ROLLER SEALING MEANs FOR SEALING CONTAINERS WITH CLOSURE CAPS Cecil P. Roberts, Lancaster, Ohio [73] Assignee: Anchor Hocking Corporation, A Lancaster, Ohio 22 Filed: Feb. 24,1972 21 Appl. No.: 223,922

[75] Inventor:

52 us. Cl. 531/334 [51-] lnt. Cl. B6'7b 3/18 [58] Field of Search 53/334, 354, 331, 53/364-365, 331.5, 340, 342, 201

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 560,930 5/1896 Rau 53/354 X 938,325 10/1909 Krummel 53/342 X 1,249,025 12/1917 Carvalho..... 53/354 X 1,251,166 12/1917 Amstein 53/354 X 1,888,470 11/1932 Risser 53/342 2,178,664 1 H1939 l-logg 53/340 X 3,073,090 H1963 Roberts et al. 53/33l.5 3,537,231 11/1970 Dimond 53/201 Primary Exarhinew-Travis S. McGehee Assistant Examiner-l-lorace M. Culver Attorney-Alexander C. Wilkie, Jr.

571 ABSTRACT An improved sealing head is described for use on machines which seal containers by placing a metal closure cap over the container mouth and by then rolling portions of the cap skirt into engagement with the container rim. The improved sealing head utilizes a pair of rollers which are movably mounted on thesealing head so that downward movement of the head automatically swings the two rollers into operating position against the, cap skirt forcing the skirt into engagement with thecontainer. This improved roller mounting means is particularly useful with high speed multihead sealing machines as the roller structure and its operating means is relatively simple and compact so that it occupies a small space permitting the sealing heads using the rollers to be closely spaced to each other.

6 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures PAIENTEU DEB 41973 SHEET 1 OF 4 BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to improvements in container sealing machinery and more particularly to an improved roller sealing means of the type used to attach metal closures to glass or other containers by rolling the cap metal into engagement with the container finishes.

There are a number of widely used metal closure caps which are applied to glass and other containers in what is known as a roll seal where portions of the cap skirts are deformed or pressed into engagement with beads or grooves or other elements on the containers by forcing rollers against the metal skirts.

These sealing operations are performed on automatic machinery operated at relatively high speeds. In particular, such sealing operations are conveniently performed on rotary sealing machines where the sealing rollers are mounted at the bottom of vertical spindles as the spindles move around a circular support on a rotating sealing machine turret.

Present roller mounting systems are relatively complex and are relatively large so that they do not lend themselves to efficient use on rotary and other types of sealing machines. v

The improved roller sealing means of the present invention combines a relatively simple and automatic roller actuating means with a compact overall design thereby providing a significantlyimproved roller means adapted both for reliable high speed use as well as for use on multi-head rotary sealing machines of compact high capacity capabilities.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an improved roller sealing means for container sealing machines.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a simplified and reliable operating mechanism for a sealing machine roller sealing means.

Another object of the present invention is to provid a reliable and efficient and relatively small mounting system for a sealing machine roller sealing means.

Other and further objects of the invention will be obvious upon an understanding of the illustrative embodiment about to be described or will be indicated in the appended claims, and various advantages not referred to herein will occur to one skilled in the art upon employment of the invention in practice.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING chine sealing head using a roller sealing means in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectionalview taken along line 4-4 on FIG. 3.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view of a sealing ma- FIG. 5 is a front elevational view of a sealing head in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a vertical sectional view of another embodiment of the improved roller sealing means for use on a bench or single station sealing machine.

FIG. 7 is a horizontal sectional view taken along line- 7-7 of FIG. 6.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The improved roller sealing means of thepresent in vention maybe used on a variety of sealing machines of the type in which a metal closure cap has its skirt rolled or forced into engagement withthe finish of a glass or other containerduring the sealing operation. The improved roller sealing means is designed so that the roller motion results from a downward movement of the associated sealing head against the container being sealed. A typical and advantageous use of the im proved sealing means is with a rotarytype sealing machine where a number of sealing heads are mounted on a rotating turret. In this type of sealing machine, containers are fed onto a horizontal portion of a sealing turret with the containers being positioned beneath sealing heads. During the passage of the containers through the sealing machine, the sealing heads pickup a metal closure cap and apply and seal the cap onto a container.

A sealing machine of this general type which may be modified to use the improved roller sealing means of the present invention is described, for example, in U. S. Pat. No. 3,073,090 to C. P. Roberts et al. datedJan. 1S, 1963 and assigned to the assignee of the present invention.

FIG. 1 illustrates the relevant portions of such a rotary sealing machine 1 and shows the use of the improved roller sealing means 2 on the heads 3 of the sealing machine ll. A preferred embodiment of the improved roller sealing means 2 will be described in connection with such a rotary sealing machine, although it is clear that the improved sealing means may be mounted on other types of sealing machines.

As is seen in FIG. 1, the sealing machine 1 includes a horizontal container supporting conveyor 4 which describes an arcuate path around a rotary turret 5. A series of spaced containers 6 have been fed onto and are being carried on the turret conveyor 4. A number of equally spaced sealing heads 3 are mounted above the conveyor 4 on suitable supports 7 sothat the sealing heads 3 move around a circular path in synchronism with the moving conveyor 4 and containers 6. Each of the sealing heads 3 includes an outer spindle 8 whose position is controlled by a circular cam 9 which engages a cam wheel 10 mounted on the spindle 8. The lower portion of the spindle 8 supports a hollow hood 11 including a frame 12 (FIGS. 3 5) which mounts portions of two separate roller sealing means 2 as will be more fully described below.

'A second or inner spindle 14 is slidably mounted within each outer spindle 8 and the vertical positions of the spindles '14 are controlled by an additional arcuate cam 15 engaged by cam rollers 16 mounted at the tops of the spindles 14. The lower end or foot 17 of each inner spindle 14 also mounts a portion of each roller sealing means 2 in a manner which will now be described in detail with particular reference to FIGS. 2 through 5.

The sealing machine illustrated in FIGS. 1 through has two identical roller sealing means 2 mounted at the lower end of each sealing head 3 with the two rollers 18 of each sealing means 2 being aligned radially inwardly and outwardly of the spindles 8, i.e. not between adjacent sealing means 2. As will be further apparent from the following description, this arrangement is facilitated by the compact and simplified design of the roller sealing means 2 described herein.

In the embodiment of the sealing machine 1 being described with reference to FIGS. 1 through 5, the relative circular motion of the rollers 18 around the skirts of the closure caps 19 is provided by a rotation of the containers 6 and the caps 19. This rotation of each container 6 about its vertical axis is obtained in the sealing machine illustrated in FIG. 1 by having the containers 6 held against an elongated turning pad 20 as the containers 6 move through the sealing machine on the conveyor 4. Thisrolling or turning motion of the containers'6 is seen in FIG. 2 to be facilitated by the positioning of each container 6 between a pair of rollers 21 rotatably mounted on the turret 5 so that they engage inner portions of the container 6 sidewalls.

Each of the sealing heads 3, when moving past a cap feed station (not shown) in advance of the sealing section of the machine, receives closure caps 19 which are held in position on the sealing heads 3 by a belowdescribed vacuum system. When a sealing head 3 with the closure caps 19 in position approaches and moves through the sealing section of the sealing machine at the turning pad 20, a steam vapor is injected into the container 6 head spaces and under the caps 19 before and during the sealing action to provide for the usual vacuum sealed containers. This steam is directed toward and into the container from a steam nozzle 22 which has its outlet 23 positioned along the container path inwardly of the containers 6 as illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3. 7

As best seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, each sealing head 3 comprises the hollow hood 11 and frame 12 attached to the lower end of and positioned by the outer spindle 8. The hollow hood 11 includes an upper cover 24 and I the frame 12 and a relatively light lower removable cover 25.

Each inner spindle 14 has the horizontal foot portion 17 mounting a pair of roller sealing means 2. The roller sealing means 2 are each seen to comprise a roller support member 26 whose upper cylindrical portion 27 is attached to the projecting foot portion 17 of the spindle 14. The roller support members 26 are mounted in apertures 28 in the foot portion 17 and they are held in place therein between a removable cap 29 and a compressed coil spring 30. The spring 30 is pre-loaded to normally hold the roller support member 26 in fixed position with respect to the position of the spindle foot 17; however, vertical movement of the roller support member 26 against the force of the coil spring 30 may occur in the event that a downwardly moving sealing head 3 encounters an unusual obstruction. A cap support shoe 3]. is rotatably mounted on a support rod 32 within the roller support member 26 under a roller bearing 33. This cap support shoe 31 is seen to have a vacuum conduit 34 extending from its top through the shoe 31 for applying a vacuum support force to the closure caps 19. The conduit 34 communicates with an external source of vacuum through a horizontal conduit 35 in the spindle 14 foot portion 17 and an interconnected vacuum tube 36 which is coupled to the source of vacuum through a suitable manifold on the sealing machine turret (not shown).

A pair of the rollers 18 for each of the two roller sealing means 2 on a sealing head 3, as illustrated in FIG. 3, are mounted on roller brackets 37. The brackets 37 each have a pair of spaced mounting pins consisting of an outer pin 38 slidably engaging a slot 39 in the hood frame 12 and an inner pin 40 slidably engaging a slot 41 in the roller support member 26. It is, therefore, seen that the position of each roller 18 is controlled by the attitude of its supporting roller brackets 37 and the attitude of the bracket 37 is controlled by the relative vertical positions of the inner and outer spindles l4 and 8 during the downward movement of these spindles under the control of the above described cams 9 and 15. Thus, each of the roller brackets 37 is turned to its operative position with the rollers 18 against the skirt of the cap 19, as illustrated in dash-dot lines in FIG. 3, as relative downward movment is provided between the outer spindle 8 and its interconnected hood 11 and the inner spindle 14 and its interconnected roller support members 26. In a typical sealing machine arrangement, for example, the control cams 9 and 15 are set to move the inner and the outer spindles downwardly with simultaneous motion to move the hoods 1 1 over containers 6 and to move closure caps 19 simultaneously over the filled containers 6. Thereafter, the downward movement of the inner spindle 14 is terminated and a slight additional downward movement of the outer spindle 8 is provided thereby tilting the rollers 18 on each of the roller brackets 37 inwardly into operative engagement with the skirts of the caps 19.

As already indicated, a slight vertical accomodation for differing container 6 heights is provided by the spring 30 mounting of each of the roller support members 26 on the lower portion 17 of each spindle 14. A correction is also provided for containers 6 whose finishes may be out-of-round or which may have slightly differing diameters. This correction is obtained by the above-described slot mountings 39 and 41 for the outer and the inner mounting pins 38 and 40 for each of the roller brackets 37. In normal operation on round and exactly sized container finishes, connecting and stressed coil springs 42 coupled between the adjacent inner mounting pins 40 hold the roller brackets 37 at their normal inward operative position. The force applied by the springs 42 is set to permit outward forces on the rollers in excess of the force required to perform the cap rolling or shaping operation to permit outward motion of the rollers 18 to compensate for size or shape variations in the container rims.

Each of the rollers 18 is mounted on a support shaft 43 rotatably contained in a bearing sleeve 44 in the roller bracket 37. The rollers 18 are held upwardly in their correct operating position in the brackets 37 by means of compressed coil springs 45 positioned between a washer 46 attached to the top of the roller support shaft 43 and a washer 47 seated on the top of the bearing sleeve 44.

ALTERNATE EMBODIMENT FOR ROTATING SEALING HEADS In the embodiment described above, the relative circular motion between the sealing rollers and the closure cap is provided by a rotation of the container and the cap without spindle rotation.

' FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate another embodiment of a roller sealing means in accordance with the present invention where the container 50 is held against rotation in a clamp 51 and where the sealing rollers 52 are rotated around the closure cap 53. This embodiment is useful in sealing machines employing rotating spindles either in a turret arrangement or in a single station sealing machine such as a test machine known as a bench machine.

The embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7 includes a hood 54 mounted at the lower end of an outer spindle 55. The hollow hood 54 is attached to the spindle 55 for vertical movement therewith but does not rotate. An inner spindle 56 is also provided which is rotated within the outer. spindle and which is slidably mounted for relative axial motion with respect to the outer spindle 55 and hollow hood 54.

The inner spindle 56 has a roller mounting 57 mounted on its lower end. The roller mounting 57 includes a T-shaped foot 58 coupled to a pair of roller support brackets 59. These brackets 59 are generally similar to the brackets 37 described above. The brackets 59 are pivotally attached to the outer ends of the foot 58 of the roller mounting 57 by a pair of pins 61 The coupling between the hollow roller mounting member 57 and the lower endof the spindle 56includes a coupling member 82 mounted within the hollow lower end of the spindle 56 and including a compressed coil spring 83. This spring 83 is pre-loaded so that normal operation of the sealing head causes no relative motion between the coupling 82 and the spindle 56. In the event that the sealing head encounters an un usual obstacle due to container or cap size variations or imperfections, the spring 83 permits an accomodating upward motion of the coupling and its attached roller engaging slots 62 in the foot 58. An inner portion of 7 each of the roller brackets 59 is pivotally attached by pins 64 and slots 65 to a slidably mounted cap engaging shoe 66 slidably mounted within the roller mounting 57. The shoe 66 is slidably mounted for vertical motion under the control of a compressed coil spring 67 so that downward movement of the inner spindle 56, which moves a closure cap against a container, causes a relative downward movement of the foot 58 and a corresponding inward movement of the sealing rollers 52 as' the roller brackets 59 turn to their operative position as illustrated in FIG. 6.

As already indicated, themountin'g pins 61 and 64 for the roller brackets are held in slots 62 and 65 in the foot 58 and in the shoe 66 which permits a radially outwardly directed motion of the rollers 52 should the rollers 52 encounter an out-of-round or an oversize container finish. Coil springs 69 coupling the inner pins 64 normally hold the rollers 52 in position as they exert the necessary cap shaping forces but permit the outward movement ofthe rollers 52 when an increased force results from the out-of-round. or oversize variations. The relative vertical motion permitted between the foot 58 and the cap supporting shoe 66 is set by an adjustable set screw 70. i

As indicated above, the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7 rotates the spindle 56 and its attached rollers 52 around the stationary container 50. In order to permit the spindle 56 to apply a downward sealing force during this rotation, a pad member 72 is rotatably mounted within the hollow shoe 66. The pad 72 has a resilient friction cover 73 on its lower surface and is rotatably mounted within the hollow shoe 66 using an upper ball bearing 74 and a lower bearing 75. A pin 76 engaging a circular slot 77 in the pad 72 holds the pad 72 in position within the hollow shoe 66.

A source of vacuum for holding the closure cap 53 onto the pad 72 prior to the rolling operation applies ,the vacuum force to the cap 53 through a channel including vacuum inlet 78, conduit 79 in the spindle 56, ports 80 in the top of the shoe 66 and a vacuum channel 81 provided in the pad 72.

operation of the rollers. Additionally, the improved arrangement is relatively compact permitting a preferred roller mounting arrangement with a pair of rollers to be spaced radially inwardly and outwardly of the sealing heads thereby permitting adjacent sealing heads to be closely mounted with respect to one another to provide a high speed, high capacity roller sealing machine.

As various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the parts herein without departing from the spirit. and scope of the invention and without sacrificing any of its advantages, it is to be understood that all matter herein is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

I claim:

ll. In an improved roller sealing means for a container sealing machine having a sealing head including a spindle means with rollers mounted thereon for sealing the containers by rolling metal closures onto the container top finishes and with means for providing relative rotation between the spindle and the container tops, the improvement comprising said spindle means having a vertically movable inner portion movable upwardly with respect to an outer portion of said spindle means, a bracket rotatably supporting each roller, a pivot means pivotally attaching a radially outer portion of each bracket to the outer portion of the spindle means, a second pivot means pivotally attaching a radially inner portion of each bracket to said inner spindle portion whereby the upward movement of the inner spindle portion moves the rollers inwardly against caps on the container finishes, each of said pivot means including radially oriented slot means permitting the brackets to move radially outwardly of the spindle without tilting movement where non-circular container surfaces are encountered, and resilient means urging the brackets radially inwardly of the spindles toward and against the caps with a contact force between each roller and the cap equal to the normal cap shaping force.

2. The roller sealing means as claimed in claim 1 in which said spindles are mounted on a rotary turret for movement about a stationary support in a circular path, a first elongated arcuate cam means being mounted on said support for controlling the vertical positions of said spindles, and a second elongated arcuate cam means being mounted on said support for controlling the vertical position of said spindle inner portion.

3. The roller sealing means as claimed in claim 1 in I means positioned for yieldably positioning each shaft on it's bracket.

4. The roller sealing means as claimed in claim 2 in which each spindle mounts a plurality of rollers with a pair of said rollers on each spindle being aligned radially of said rotary turret.

5. In an improved roller sealing means for a container sealing machine having a sealing head including a spindle meanswith a plurality of rollers mounted thereon for sealing the containers by rolling metal closures onto the container top finishes and with means for providing relative rotation between the spindle and the container tops, the improvement comprising said spindle means having a vertically movable inner portion movable upwardly with respect to an outer portion of said spindle means, a bracket rotatably supporting each roller, a pivot means pivotally attaching a radially outer portion of each bracket to the outer portion of the spindle means, a second pivot means pivotally attaching a radially inner portion of each bracket to said inner spindle portion whereby the upward movement of the inner spindle portion moves the rollers inwardly against caps on the container finishes, each of said pivot means ineluding radially oriented slot means permitting the brackets to move radially outwardly of the spindle brackets radially inwardly of the spindles towards and against the caps with a contact force between each roller and the cap equal to the normal cap shaping force, cam means for determining the relative vertical positions of said spindles inner and outer portion, each of said rollers being rotatably attached to a bracket on an elongated shaft, means slidably containing each shaft on the bracket for axial movement, and resilient means positioned for yieldably positioning each shaft on its bracket.

6. The roller sealing means as claimed in claim 5 in which said spindles are mounted on a rotary turret for movement about a stationary support in a circular path, a first elongated arcuate cam means being mounted on said support for controlling the vertical positions of said spindles, and a second elongated arcuate cam means being mounted on said support for controlling the vertical position of said spindle inner portion. 

1. In an improved roller sealing means for a container sealing machine having a sealing head including a spindle means with rollers mounted thereon for sealing the containers by rolling metal closures onto the container top finishes and with means for providing relative rotation between the spindle and the container tops, the improvement comprising said spinDle means having a vertically movable inner portion movable upwardly with respect to an outer portion of said spindle means, a bracket rotatably supporting each roller, a pivot means pivotally attaching a radially outer portion of each bracket to the outer portion of the spindle means, a second pivot means pivotally attaching a radially inner portion of each bracket to said inner spindle portion whereby the upward movement of the inner spindle portion moves the rollers inwardly against caps on the container finishes, each of said pivot means including radially oriented slot means permitting the brackets to move radially outwardly of the spindle without tilting movement where non-circular container surfaces are encountered, and resilient means urging the brackets radially inwardly of the spindles toward and against the caps with a contact force between each roller and the cap equal to the normal cap shaping force.
 2. The roller sealing means as claimed in claim 1 in which said spindles are mounted on a rotary turret for movement about a stationary support in a circular path, a first elongated arcuate cam means being mounted on said support for controlling the vertical positions of said spindles, and a second elongated arcuate cam means being mounted on said support for controlling the vertical position of said spindle inner portion.
 3. The roller sealing means as claimed in claim 1 in which each roller is rotatably attached to a bracket on an elongated shaft, means slidably containing each shaft in the bracket for axial movement, and resilient means positioned for yieldably positioning each shaft on its bracket.
 4. The roller sealing means as claimed in claim 2 in which each spindle mounts a plurality of rollers with a pair of said rollers on each spindle being aligned radially of said rotary turret.
 5. In an improved roller sealing means for a container sealing machine having a sealing head including a spindle means with a plurality of rollers mounted thereon for sealing the containers by rolling metal closures onto the container top finishes and with means for providing relative rotation between the spindle and the container tops, the improvement comprising said spindle means having a vertically movable inner portion movable upwardly with respect to an outer portion of said spindle means, a bracket rotatably supporting each roller, a pivot means pivotally attaching a radially outer portion of each bracket to the outer portion of the spindle means, a second pivot means pivotally attaching a radially inner portion of each bracket to said inner spindle portion whereby the upward movement of the inner spindle portion moves the rollers inwardly against caps on the container finishes, each of said pivot means including radially oriented slot means permitting the brackets to move radially outwardly of the spindle without tilting movement where non-circular container surfaces are encountered, resilient means urging the brackets radially inwardly of the spindles towards and against the caps with a contact force between each roller and the cap equal to the normal cap shaping force, cam means for determining the relative vertical positions of said spindles inner and outer portion, each of said rollers being rotatably attached to a bracket on an elongated shaft, means slidably containing each shaft on the bracket for axial movement, and resilient means positioned for yieldably positioning each shaft on its bracket.
 6. The roller sealing means as claimed in claim 5 in which said spindles are mounted on a rotary turret for movement about a stationary support in a circular path, a first elongated arcuate cam means being mounted on said support for controlling the vertical positions of said spindles, and a second elongated arcuate cam means being mounted on said support for controlling the vertical position of said spindle inner portion. 